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Buccaneers can’t catch Waseca, Fairmont

By Staff | Dec 22, 2013

The Blue Earth Area girls basketball team could not dig themselves out of a turnover-filled game versus Waseca last Thursday night.

The Buccaneers fell to the visiting Blue Jays 63-36.

Jenna Stevermer led the Bucs with 14 points and seven steals.

The first half of the game saw both teams struggle to put points on the board early.

The maroon and gold held the Blue Jays without a single field goal for the first eight minutes of the game on their way to forcing 20 Waseca turnovers in the first half.

However, Waseca moved the ball and converted easy fast break points to close the half on a 12-2 run to take an eight point lead into the locker room, 30-22.

The Bucs rallied early in the second with a 6-1 run cutting the lead to three.

The Bluejays quickly responded with a 6-0 run of their own by pressing the passer and creating easy baskets.

BEA struggled to get anything going. The team scored only five points in the last eight minutes, getting outscored by 17 in the same span.

Kaitlyn Olsen had nine points and four rebounds.

BEA vs. Fairmont

The Blue Earth Area girls basketball team had no answer for rival Fairmont on their way to a 50-33 defeat on Dec. 13 in the BEA gymnasium.

Fairmont ended the game with a 12-0 surge and improved their record to 4-1, while the Bucs dropped to 2-2.

Kaitlyn Olsen topped the Buccaneers with 10 points, five rebounds and two steals.

BEA orchestrated 15 steals and caused 26 Fairmont turnovers.

“We forced enough turnovers to be in the game,” coach Al Cue explains. “We also rebounded well considering the size differential.”

Pressure defense forced the Cardinals into coughing the ball up 13 times in the opening 18 minutes to keep the Buccaneers within striking distance at halftime, only trailing 22-17.

Back-to-back buckets by Jenna Stevermer and Taylor Grandgenett narrowed the gap to five, 38-33 with six minutes remaining in regulation. But, that’s as close as the maroon and gold would get.

Fairmont power forward Alex Christianson put the game out of reach for the Buccaneers. She hit six consecutive free throws to give the Cardinals an 11-point edge.

“In the last 12 minutes we got ourselves back in the game by creating some easy transition baskets with our defense. Unfortunately, we went ice cold from the field,” Cue says. “We just couldn’t get a shot to fall. Also, as they began to pull away again, we panicked a bit and forced and rushed some shots. When we needed to be patient and get a great look, we hurried and settled for less than that.”

Christianson led the visitors with a game-high 16 points and collected six rebounds.

Cardinal teammate Kayla Lardy collected 12 points and eight rebounds.

For BEA, Stevermer produced eight points, seven boards and three steals, while Grandgenett added six points, five rebounds and four steals.